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08-02-2014, 09:10
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I've been amazed to discover that some people are actually enjoying this series. They've even said it to me face to face and unsolicited. All I can say is "Wow. I'm not the only weirdo."

We've now got as far as Meux, another of the big Porter brewers. They were situated in the Horseshoe Brewery at the start of Tottenham Court Road. Probably not the handiest spot for a brewery in the 20th century. Which explains why it was closed in 1921 and demolished a year later*. These beers would have been brewed at the former Thorne Brothers brewery in Nine Elms, which Meux had bought in 1914**.

You can see that there are two different beers in the table: MA, a 5d Ale and X Ale, a 7d/6d Mild. The two would almost certainly have been parti-gyled.

Let's start with the watery one. It's a pretty typical beer of its type, the gravity loitering just below 1030ยบ and the ABV just under 3%. There's quite a big variation in the FG, making it difficult to draw any conclusions. The variation in quality isn't such a shock. A beer with such a low gravity would have been easily spoiled.

Only four of the seven samples of MA were bright. But that's better going than the flavour, where only two were any good. Overall, pretty poor with an average score of -0.57.

Now on to the posh Mild. This had the typical gravity of this class of Mild of just over 1040. Again, there's a big variation in FG and degree of attenuation. The latter is mostly around 75%, but occasionally between 80% and 90%.

Only six out of elevevn were clear. Still not very good. And five had negative scores for flavour, though there were three that scored a 2. With an overall score of zero and such wise variation in scores, I'd say it was a toss up whether you were going to get ambrosia or vinegar in a Meux pub.



Meux Mild Ale quality 1922 - 1925


Year
Beer
FG
OG
ABV
App. Atten-uation
Appearance
Flavour
Score


1922
MA
1005
1027
2.88
82.22%
brilliant
v fair
2


1922
MA
1005
1027.8
2.92
80.94%
not bright
going off, very musty
-3


1922
MA
1006
1028.3
2.88
78.45%
fairly bright, v dark
poor
-1


1922
MA
1006
1028.5
2.92
78.95%
v dark, bright
unpleasantly bitter
-2


1923
MA
1005
1028
2.99
82.14%
not bright
poor
-1


1923
MA
1008
1028.5
2.65
71.93%
bright
good
2


1923
MA
1006
1028.9
2.92
77.85%
bright
poor
-1


1922
X
1007
1041.3
4.49
83.54%
not bright
going off
-2


1922
X
1009
1041
4.23
79.27%
not quite bright
fair
1


1922
X
1009
1040.5
4.09
77.78%
brilliant
good
2


1922
X
1010
1039.8
3.89
75.38%
bright
good
2


1923
X
1008
1039.8
4.16
80.40%
not bright
poor
-1


1923
X
1009
1042
4.36
79.76%
bright
fair
1


1923
X
1011
1041.6
4.02
74.52%
bright
fair
1


1923
X
1010
1041.3
4.09
76.27%
hazy
good
2


1923
X
1006
1042
4.69
85.71%
bright
thin
-2


1923
X
1010
1042.2
4.24
77.25%
hazy
thin & nasty
-3


1925
X
1004
1041.2
4.86
90.29%
bright
sound without character
-1



Average MA





-0.57



Average X





0.00



Average all





-0.22


Source:


Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001








* "A Century of British Breweries Plus" by Norman Barber, 2005, page 87.
** "A Century of British Breweries Plus" by Norman Barber, 2005, page 86.

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